ENERGY USE PATTERNS AND FIRM PERFORMANCE: EVIDENCE FROM INDIAN INDUSTRIES

摘要

Energy efficiency and conservation are critical elements of energy policy and they are even more salient with increasing concerns regarding climate change, establishing energy security, and meeting growing energy demand. To address these challenges, some call for reducing energy demand overall while others argue for changing the energy portfolio mix, such as increasing the role of renewable energy sources. It is not surprising that a great amount of research has been undertaken to examine the economics of energy efficiency, conservation, and performance at different levels of the economy. In this paper, we have focused on Indian industries as our case study. Increased energy efficiency and conservation will be essential for India as it was the fourth-largest energy consumer in the world after China, the United States, and Russia in 2011. Despite having notable fossil-fuel resources, the nation has become increasingly dependent on energy imports and, according to projections, India's energy demand could rise by 132 percent by the year 2035, outpacing energy demand growth in China. This is being propelled by the fact that India's per-capita energy consumption today is now one-third of the global average, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA), which indicates potentially higher energy demand in the long term. Primary energy consumption in India has more than doubled between 1990 and 2012, reaching an estimated 32 quadrillion British thermal units (Btus). At more than 1.2 billion people in 2012, India's population is a huger driver of this growing energy demand: the country has the second-largest population in the world, and is growing at about 1.3 percent each year since 2008, according to World Bank data.4 Of course, with the type of population and economic growth that India has been experiencing and that analysts are predicting in the future, pollution-related issues arise, particularly in regard to greenhouse gases (GHGs). Thus, much attention is being focused on how the Indian economy can grow without increasing GHGs, such as carbon dioxide (CO_2) emissions, and how increased industrial efficiency and conservation can play a role.